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Woodridge woman joins suit over online puppy sales

Jacki Daly was browsing for puppies available through an online dog seller last year when she happened upon Missi, a pint-size Havanese who instantly won the affection of her 7-year-old daughter Jessica.

Going against her better judgment, Daly said, she plunked down more than she'd like to admit to have the pup shipped to her home in Woodridge the next week.

If it were only so simple.

“I thought I was crazy for ordering a dog online,” Daly said. “She was outrageously priced, but we figured we're not going to do this every day.”

On Thursday, Daly joined the Humane Society of the United States and 49 unhappy customers of Purebred Breeders in a lawsuit alleging the seller supports so-called “puppy mills” and frequently delivers sick or injured pets.

Daly said Missi was on a flight to Chicago that stopped in Memphis, where the flight crew rushed the dog, which appeared lifeless, to a veterinarian. She was treated for dehydration, low blood sugar, low blood pressure and two severe infections. When the seller failed to act on the situation quickly, Daly said, she took a day off work, bought a plane ticket, and flew south to pick up her new, sick puppy.

“I felt like no one else was taking responsibility,” said Daly, a vice president at Omnicare Medical Supply Services in Naperville.

Six buyers initially brought the suit in which Daly is now a plaintiff. It was first filed in Dade County, Fla., in December but since has grown to consist of 50 plaintiffs from across the country.

The complaint accuses Purebred Breeders of misleading buyers into believing its dogs come from quality breeders, often in customers' home states, when instead they come from “inhumane breeding facilities” — claims the seller flatly denied.

“We have a 95 percent customer approval rating and the most stringent health requirements beyond any local, state or federal law in this country,” company spokesman Lonnie Soury said Thursday. “We stand by our puppies. We stand by the breeders we use.”

Soury said a group of dog lovers started the company to match families with the best breeders in the U.S. He said all puppies go through a rigorous physical exam by a veterinarian before they're delivered to customers, who are required to visit a veterinarian within 48 hours of receipt and have the option of free pet health insurance for a month.

But the Humane Society says it's been deluged by more than 100 complaints from disenchanted buyers, including one whose puppy arrived with deformed feet.

According to the suit, the plaintiffs each spent between $1,300 and $3,000 for their dogs.

In Daly's case, she persuaded the company to reimburse her travel costs but said it did not refund a $300 shipping expense.

Soury pointed out that Daly sent the company a thank-you note by email after responding to her complaint, but Daly said it was more intended for the customer service representative who fielded her questions than the company itself.

Missi eventually recovered, she said, but it wasn't an easy road.

“It took a lot of time and many, many treatments for her to shake both parasites,” Daly said. “She's a very tenacious and persistent little puppy and I think if she didn't have that as part of her personality, she wouldn't have made it.”

Daly said she hopes the lawsuit will help prevent other pet buyers — and pets — from going through a similar experience.

“I have a feeling that once upon a time Purebred Breeders had good intentions and tried to do what they say on their website. Being as optimistic as I can, I think maybe everything got away from them as they got big, and money started to take over,” she speculated. “But it's not like you're shipping items. You're shipping animals. I just don't want this to continue to happen to other dogs.”

Missi, being held by owner Jacki Daly, was rescued by three members of a Delta Air Lines flight crew who helped get the sick puppy to a vet. courtesy of Jacki Daly
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